Been trying to do a cutback on my starboard airborn 7'10 can't seem to get the hang of it though . I'm using my paddle for extra push. Can't get the board to do a sharp turn. Maybe I need to get most of my weight on my back foot. Or maybe I'm on wrong part of the wave. Or maybe I need more speed. At the moment I'm doing bottomed turn going back up to the top of wave but I can't get the front of my board to kick around. Any advise would be very helpful

A main common problem is not getting the back foot far enough back. If you got a tail pad & your back foot gets onto it you should have no problem & without using your paddle.
You will know that you have a problem when surfing backhand waves when you find it difficult to cut back & over the wave before it closes out.
Just catch a mediocre wave & glance back at your back foot to see its position at the back of the board. Then make physical foot placements next time.
Some people change to smaller fins but I reckon practice makes perfect & it wont change your boards ultimate performance either.

Cheers mate. Next time out I'll keep checking my back foot. Hopefully I can improve it over the next few sessions.
Thanks

So you are trying to do a reo. Cut back is when you go out to front of wave and cutback to the whitewash to get back to pocket of wave.
As said before, step back as soon as you drop in. Try to Feel the kick pad and arch support of tailpad on your bottom turn as a good bottom turn sets up for a great reo. When your half way up wave transfer weight to back foot and dig paddle in to push board around. At this point you can do two things-
1 - transfer weight to front foot and push back foot out to slide rear of board out to slide across lip. Or,
2- lean forward and head back down wave to set up for another bottom turn.
Heal side is the same but you have to commit to trusting diging in paddle to pivot on.
The AB turn on a dime and are very forgiving. Set up of feet position is everything prior to a move. Best of luck in adventures

Thanks. That's a wicked description. Definitely gonna make sure my back foot it in the right place. Hopefully I can get the hang of it soon. Cheers :-)

Not a board made for carving. They tend to mush through turns. You would have more success doing a big round cutback on one of the Starboard Pro models.

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surfershaneA said..
Not a board made for carving. They tend to mush through turns. You would have more success doing a big round cutback on one of the Starboard Pro models.

No need to change gears. All boards on the market currently can cutback fine.

To add to 2KiteBurra advice:
- move your foot to the rear. Yes, on the leash plug :-) This is the true secret of turning while surfing...
- very often we are too optimistic and lean too far inside. Try to crouch more and start the turn mroe "on" the board than leaning inside as on a motorcycle.
- try apply pressure to the board steadily during all the turn, it will help a lot to control it: for this you want to start with knees well bent and steadily unfold them during the turn to push on the board. As soon as you legs are straight, you have no control anymore...

Personally found that one wasn't big on carving turns. More a squishy turn on a dime snappy thing.

Not that it won't do "cutbacks". Just don't be hard on yourself if you are not doing massive round-house ones throwing buckets???????

Thanks. I'll get my back foot on the right at the back of the tail pad. That's near the leash plug. I think where I'm 2 far forward I'm just using my rails to turn rather that pivoting from the rear fins. Really appreciate the advice tho guys. I got it in my head what I need to do now. But thinking Abt it and actually doing it is 2 different things lol I can see in my pick I'm way of far foreword

Nothing radical here but hope this helps. Back foot back and leaning on the inside rail for the bottom turn. As you swing around and come up the face of the wave to the lip put the paddle forward and drop your back foot over the backside rail and lean onto it (going rail to rail). Pull back on the paddle swivelling your body while pushing with your legs and feet onto the backside rail. The longer and harder you lean and pull the more you will cutback. In this instance I'm only coming half way round to set up for the next turn to get quickly back across the face of the wave, setting up another bottom turn. If you watch my back foot I'm actually moving it side to side to get more pressure on the rails .... something you need to do on wider tail boards. If you want to do a flat or "dishpan" type turn ease up on the angling of the rails.

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Andrewrees said..
I'm 2 far forward I'm just using my rails to turn rather that pivoting from the rear fins.

Actually, putting your rear foot on the kickpad does not meant you must pivot turn: it is so that you can better control the rail with more leverage, and not having to move your rear foot from rail to rail as much as when it is more forward.

Also, be sure to turn your head towards where you want to go.

Andrewrees, here are two ideas that helped me. Since it is not always easy while you are perfecting this to see where your rear foot is, it helped me to quickly glance down and check where my front foot is. Assuming that you have enough speed and you are setting up for turning rather than trimming for speed, I like to make sure that my front foot is somewhere between being right on the handle, or up to 4-6 inches behind it on my longer boards (8'10"). I noticed in your picture that your front foot is well ahead of the handle, and that would be an easy thing to see and correct. In my mind, you would need to correct that first before being able to reach your rear foot back anywhere near the stomp pad. The other thing that helped me was realizing that sometimes I want my bottom turn to be more drawn out to get more drive down the line around a section, but then I still want a tight off the lip or cutback. In those cases, even though I have my rear foot only moderately far back for the bottom turn, I bring it much further back as I bring it across to the heel rail for the cutback. Unless your rear foot is already back against the kicker, get in the habit of bringing it further back whenever you pull it across to the heel rail for your cutbacks. As mentioned before, this won't work unless your front foot is already on or behind the handle.

Thanks all. Was trying it out today. Defiantly helping making sure my feet are right back. Noticing that the back foot placement makes a bit difference aswel. Just gotta practice now :-)